nickelndime

Last night, the metro Detroit area had a snow storm. As I was shoveling my driveway and sidewalk I noticed one of the trees in my front yard looks a little (or a lot...) saggy:

“Don't worry little guy, someday you'll be a mighty tree and you can help the hobbits return the ring to Sauron.”

This was only midway through the day, and I still had to shovel later on in the evening. My snowblower needs to be repaired because I didn't drain the gas out of it and now the carburetor needs to be rebuilt. I thought I had more time before the first snow fall, but you just never know when that is going to be in Michigan! Oh well, good thing I raked all the leaves up yesterday. This all leads me to today's song.

Whenever the first snowfall happens, I have to play, “Here Comes the Sun.” I realize that it's more of a springtime song, but like I've stated before, I'm a rebel and I'll never be any different. This was, I believe, the first notated song I ever learned on guitar. Notation is the system of notes and measure found in music.

“I could totally play this, but I don't want to.” – NickelnDime's response if asked to play the piece above.

There is an old joke that gets told in musician circles about guitarists. It goes, How do you make a guitarist stop playing? Answer: You put sheet music in front of them. Everybody laughs and laughs, except the guitarist. He smirks on the outside, but on the inside, he plots his revenge.

I joke but there is truth behind this joke. Many guitarists do not know how to read music. It took me seven years of playing before I thought, Hmmm should probably learn how to do this seeing as I am showing other people how to do it. Is learning how to read notation essential for a guitarist? No, but it definitively helps. Anyway, it helps students learn the guitar in a different way, which is a good thing.

What I like most about this arrangement is the finger picking is not too difficult but is challenging enough to keep someone learning how to play finger-style interested. The composition uses the thumb and pointer finger primarily with some parts using three fingers. This makes it a good beginner to intermediate piece of music to play.

All in all, I think this recording turned out pretty well. As I've stated, I love doing these articles and recordings because I don't get to play these songs out at the places I perform very often.

Take a listen, and let me know what you think!

https://www.cinnamon.video/nickelndime/watch?v=186024628991297109&l=Lw%3D%3D

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